Need Help : Excessive tire wear problem in Swift VXI Jan 06

This is a discussion on Need Help : Excessive tire wear problem in Swift VXI Jan 06 within Tyre & Alloy wheel Section, part of the Modifications & Accessories category; Hi There
I am facing a real big problem in my Swift VXI. The car was bought in Jan 2006 ...

I am facing a real big problem in my Swift VXI. The car was bought in Jan 2006 and it chews up all the four tires winthin 10,000kms. The day when i took the delivery my car was pulling to the left, the dealer explained that it was an alignment problem and will be rectified tomorrow as it is 6:40 in the evening and they were closed for the day. I took the car to the dealer on the 3rd day and so the alignment was done. I drove off, after 2kms i found that the car was still pulling to the left and after the alignment it had got worse i went back and had it done again and so started a chain of alignment and experiments, they even inserted a nut there at 3000kms, within 5000 kms the tires were less than half of the tread and at 8000 kms they were completely worn out. Since then i have drove for 75000kms and currently i'm on my 6th set of tires and they too will wear out soon.
I need your(Team BHPians) advice...

Hi there
Yes! i do think it is a bit late, the only reason that kept me was the continious assurance from Maruti that they will do something about it a if possible they wud cahnge the car, now as it is a long time they have been giving me false assurance and i have ran out of patience. I was also thinking of filing a law suit against Maruti for gross misrepresentation. I am not able to state the full issue as it is a very long story. My car alignment is always OK, the car was put on a car-o-liner the specs were OK. Most importantly Maruti is providing me the tires. What i want is a solution to my problem and not a set of tires everytime i ask them for a solution.
I paid Full money for the car, i want a car that has no technical issues.
Plz advice

i even check my air pressure constantly with a digital gauge that i had specially imported from US. also they changed my dead axl and front shockers too. They also gave me a set(5) of alloys, which did not help either. Now when Maruti is issuing me tires , wheels , shockers it is understood that they know that there is an issue with the product.
I even know two other people who have the same problem.

i even check my air pressure constantly with a digital gauge that i had specially imported from US. also they changed my dead axl and front shockers too. They also gave me a set(5) of alloys, which did not help either. Now when Maruti is issuing me tires , wheels , shockers it is understood that they know that there is an issue with the product.
I even know two other people who have the same problem.

Dude this is totally not acceptable.Maruti is providing you with tyres/shocks bla bla to keep your mouth shut without finding a solution to your problems.
Shove the car back at them and dont accept anything other than a new car or a permanent solution to your problem.
Also complain at their toll free number 18001800180
Go to the highest levels and get things sorted out.

I am facing a real big problem in my Swift VXI. The car was bought in Jan 2006 and it chews up all the four tires winthin 10,000kms. The day when i took the delivery my car was pulling to the left, the dealer explained that it was an alignment problem and will be rectified tomorrow as it is 6:40 in the evening and they were closed for the day. I took the car to the dealer on the 3rd day and so the alignment was done. I drove off, after 2kms i found that the car was still pulling to the left and after the alignment it had got worse i went back and had it done again and so started a chain of alignment and experiments, they even inserted a nut there at 3000kms, within 5000 kms the tires were less than half of the tread and at 8000 kms they were completely worn out. Since then i have drove for 75000kms and currently i'm on my 6th set of tires and they too will wear out soon.
I need your(Team BHPians) advice...

Really alarming situation!! Your car certainly require very generous attention by all fellow bhpians who owns a MARUTI!!! IMHO, All those who own a MARUTI here should unite and write a letter to Mr.Khattar and force him clear this issue THE best accepatable way!!!

Few Q's
(1) All the tyres wears out abnormally at the same time?!
(2) Which tyre is wearing faster?
(3) Any outer / inner wears?!
Do let me know!

Well... dude, I too had a this problem from the day1 of my Swift ZXi! Front left tyre had excessive 'outer wear' also!! THIS was due to a wrongly assembled front left strut assembly. In my experience, 99.9% this wud be the issue! Mine got this corrected by a MARUTI AUTHORISED SERVICE STATION personall and now the car runs absolutely normal as any other car! I clocked 25k after that and no uneven or abnormal tyre wears.

In your case, Assuming abnormal/uneven tyre wears on all four tyres, I suggest you to tell them changeboth the front struts with NEW one and re-do the entire rear suspension and try a 2-3k run!! Remember, the rear coil springs must be dismantled and refitted as recommended in the manual! Improper ASSEMBLING of suspension systems are the main culprits in these kinds of cases. Alignment differances OR other erratic chassis points/dimentions are not the troublers here! Chances of those kinds of issues are very very rare!!! So try what I suggested.

Dude this is totally not acceptable.Maruti is providing you with tyres/shocks bla bla to keep your mouth shut without finding a solution to your problems.
Shove the car back at them and dont accept anything other than a new car or a permanent solution to your problem.
Also complain at their toll free number 18001800180
Go to the highest levels and get things sorted out.

Thanks for your reply, i did call their toll free line and also filed a complaint with them, as expected there was no response.

But he says he that maruti is providing him with shocks too.Cant be defective shocks all the time right??
Also defective mountings due to apron not aligned properly can happen but both the aprons not aligned properly in a same car is like too unthinkable aint it?
Rear tyres wearing out in a car like the swift which has non independent suspension = sounds kinda fishy
and all of these problems in one god damn car = chances = one in a billion.

He deserves a new car asap and should not take any struts/tyres bla bla..from maruti anymore and ask for only a new car.

And brother one simple question?What the hell was wrong with u that u drove the car for 75000 km and 6 sets of tyres when u have paid such a huge sum for a car which is defective ?
Go to the service station/park the car and ask them to keep the money as well as the car and file a case in the consumer court

He deserves a new car asap and should not take any struts/tyres bla bla..from maruti anymore and ask for only a new car.

And brother one simple question?What the hell was wrong with u that u drove the car for 75000 km and 6 sets of tyres when u have paid such a huge sum for a car which is defective ?
Go to the service station/park the car and ask them to keep the money as well as the car and file a case in the consumer court

I think now it would be tough to get a new car, since the old one has been driven for 75000 kms. If D1ISTHE1 has kept all the records while interacting with Maruti, then a case could be made in the consumer court.

@D1ISTHE1: you say

Quote:

The day when i took the delivery my car was pulling to the left, the dealer explained that it was an alignment problem and will be rectified tomorrow as it is 6:40 in the evening and they were closed for the day. I took the car to the dealer on the 3rd day and so the alignment was done. I drove off, after 2kms i found that the car was still pulling to the left and after the alignment it had got worse i went back and had it done again and so started a chain of alignment and experiments, they even inserted a nut there at 3000kms, within 5000 kms the tires were less than half of the tread and at 8000 kms they were completely worn out. [...]

They also gave me a set(5) of alloys, which did not help either

Sometimes the alignment can be fine and the car could pull to one side due to minor defects in the tyres (even if brand new). This is explained in the Carbibles website. If you had run in the new tyres for a while the problem could have sorted itself out.

I am now wondering if your Maruti dealer overreacted and did all kinds of unwarranted stuff like starting "a chain of alignment and experiments" and "inserted a nut there at 3000 kms" (what nut? where?) and giving you "a set (5) of alloys". Looks like a case of the treatment being worse than the disease. And why did they even try out alloys for this problem? If you paid for these alloys, you got conned.

My advice would be to first of all restore your car to fully stock condition (remove any "nut" inserted by Maruti service). Then go to a well-equipped tyre shop when your tyres wear out next time. Get good quality tyres (not the stock tyres supplied by Maruti), and do the alignment and balancing there. Set tyre pressures in cold condition at the recommended levels (33 psi?). And do not worry about slight pulling to one side initially, just run the car for 5000 kms and see if your tyre wear is even on all four tyres. If so alignment is fine.

Then the pulling problem and excessive tread wear problem have to be diagnosed if they are still there. If so then you really do have a defective car and suspension would be suspect. Look at the following page in the carbibles website:

Look at the table under "Diagonosing problems from tyre wear" and you have a wealth of information there. Some of the diagnosis includes suspension problems and a bent axle beam, so I think it is crucial for you to examine the worn tyres and check them as per the given table.

@D1ISTHE1: Your car has done 75000 kms since Jan 2006, which is an awful lot of running. Since you are in Shimla, do you do a lot of driving in ghats? What is the condition of the roads that you drive on?

Anyway, my suggestion is to go to another reputed dealer and get your car's suspension and steering thoroughly checked out. At 75K you probably need to get these overhauled anyway. Ask this dealer to restore your car to 100% stock and then change your tyres and proceed as I suggested.

"And brother one simple question?What the hell was wrong with u that u drove the car for 75000 km and 6 sets of tyres when u have paid such a huge sum for a car which is defective ?"

Bro, I have been constantly visiting the Regional Office in Chandigarh. Whenever I asked Maruti to give me an explaination as what the hell is wrong with my car, all i had for an answer is that we are observing the wear on the tires and they out stupid tests which was nothing more than an eyewash which,till date they are unable to diagnose.

I even sent a notice to the Dealer and the next one to the RO, still no response. Guess i will have to follow it up till Mr Khattar.

I think now it would be tough to get a new car, since the old one has been driven for 75000 kms. If D1ISTHE1 has kept all the records while interacting with Maruti, then a case could be made in the consumer court.

@D1ISTHE1: you say

Sometimes the alignment can be fine and the car could pull to one side due to minor defects in the tyres (even if brand new). This is explained in the Carbibles website. If you had run in the new tyres for a while the problem could have sorted itself out.

I am now wondering if your Maruti dealer overreacted and did all kinds of unwarranted stuff like starting "a chain of alignment and experiments" and "inserted a nut there at 3000 kms" (what nut? where?) and giving you "a set (5) of alloys". Looks like a case of the treatment being worse than the disease. And why did they even try out alloys for this problem? If you paid for these alloys, you got conned.::::

My advice would be to first of all restore your car to fully stock condition (remove any "nut" inserted by Maruti service). Then go to a well-equipped tyre shop when your tyres wear out next time. Get good quality tyres (not the stock tyres supplied by Maruti), and do the alignment and balancing there. Set tyre pressures in cold condition at the recommended levels (33 psi?). And do not worry about slight pulling to one side initially, just run the car for 5000 kms and see if your tyre wear is even on all four tyres. If so alignment is fine.

Then the pulling problem and excessive tread wear problem have to be diagnosed if they are still there. If so then you really do have a defective car and suspension would be suspect.

Look at the table under "Diagonosing problems from tyre wear" and you have a wealth of information there. Some of the diagnosis includes suspension problems and a bent axle beam, so I think it is crucial for you to examine the worn tyres and check them as per the given table.

Bro
yup i do have the records with me
the nut was inserted somewhere in the suspension (which was not acceptable to me), and later i aske d them to pull out the nut. As for the tires i did not pay for the tires.
Bro i have tried all these things, (no offence) what do you think that i wud sit silent on this kinda issue? they have changed the shockers, dead axl and the alloys.

Last edited by Rehaan : 26th October 2007 at 23:13.
Reason: Please do not post your entire post in BOLD & UNDERLINED. Thanks.

Bro
yup i do have the records with me
the nut was inserted somewhere in the suspension (which was not acceptable to me), and later i aske d them to pull out the nut. As for the tires i did not pay for the tires.
Bro i have tried all these things, (no offence) what do you think that i wud sit silent on this kinda issue? they have changed the shockers, dead axl and the alloys.

well i had also problem with my rear left tyre. it's worn out from inside pretty soon and i replaced it with the one in boot and did the wheel balancing..now i think the problem has gone and with 1000 kms done after wheel balancing.

well i think u should sue a case against them in consumer court and get a brand new car none other solution will make it worth for the pain or trouble and time u have taken for this problem. its totally understandable.